26 has been special since long

You see, it is the only number that sits between a square and a cube. That notwithstanding, I watched Special 26 yesterday. An excellent movie. Everyone has acted well, with Manoj Bajpai getting top marks. The direction and plot development are nice too. The love angle is completely redundant though, and should have been cut, along with all the  songs.

Couple of new books

Issac Newton by James Gleick: A crisp biography of Newton. Focuses mostly on Newton's works, famous ones like gravity and light, and less famous (but no less serious) ones like alchemy and theology. Very readable.

Mathematics: A very short introduction: A superb math primer. Unlike other primers which give us elementary facts about mathematics, this one focuses on the process of mathematics, particulary how familiar ideas are extended to esoteric objects. Eg. why is a⁰=1 [The answer is, a^m = a^(m+0) = a^m . a⁰. So to keep this rule working, we need to define a⁰=1]. If you are (like me) trying to patch your imperfect mathematical training, this one is a must read.

Personal

Though not necessary that it happens, sometimes something comes along that shakes your very roots. What is one to do? My words have deserted me, so by the time they make up their mind to return, I call upon Wordsworth for help.

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;--
Turn wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

The Rainbow comes and goes,
And lovely is the Rose,
The Moon doth with delight
Look round her when the heavens are bare;
Waters on a starry night
Are beautiful and fair;
The sunshine is a glorious birth;
But yet I know, where'er I go,
That there hath past away a glory from the earth.

Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song,
And while the young lambs bound
As to the tabor's sound,
To me alone there came a thought of grief:
A timely utterance gave that thought relief,
And I again am strong:
The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep;
No more shall grief of mine the season wrong;
I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng,
The Winds come to me from the fields of sleep,
And all the earth is gay;
Land and sea
Give themselves up to jollity,
And with the heart of May
Doth every Beast keep holiday;--
Thou Child of Joy,
Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy Shepherd-boy!

And O, ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves,
Forebode not any severing of our loves!
Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might;
I only have relinquished one delight
To live beneath your more habitual sway.
I love the Brooks which down their channels fret,
Even more than when I tripped lightly as they;
The innocent brightness of a new-born Day
Is lovely yet;
The Clouds that gather round the setting sun
Do take a sober colouring from an eye
That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality;
Another race hath been, and other palms are won.
Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.

--William Wordsworth, Intimations of Immortality.

A little known place

 

And a cherished memory.